Bombay High Court to hear Salman Khan’s bail plea on Friday, actor unlikely to be present

Bombay High Court to hear Salman Khan’s bail plea on Friday, actor unlikely to be present

The trial court had found him guilty of ramming the American Express bakery in suburban Bandra with his Toyota Land Cruiser on September 28, 2002, killing one person and wounding four others.

Mumbai |
Published: May 7, 2015 7:51 pm

Bollywood actor Salman Khan leaves the court after getting an interim 2 days bail by the High Court in the 2002 hit-and-run case in Mumbai on Wednesday. The court sentenced Khan to 5 years in prison for culpable homicide for the death of a man in the case. (Source: PTI)

All eyes are on the Bombay High Court which will hear Bollywood superstar Salman Khan’s appeal against his conviction in the 2002 hit-and-run case and his plea for bail on Friday.

Salman’s appeal is listed for admission on the board of Justice Abhay Thipsay, who had yesterday granted him an interim bail for two days.

The actor was convicted and sentenced to five years’ rigorous imprisonment on various charges under IPC, including culpable homicide not amounting to murder, besides penal provisions under Motor Vehicles Act and other laws.

The trial court had found him guilty of ramming the American Express bakery in suburban Bandra with his Toyota Land Cruiser on September 28, 2002, killing one person and wounding four others sleeping on the pavement outside.

Soon after the conviction, Salman’s lawyer had moved the High Court which granted him interim bail for two days since he had not been given a detailed, reasoned copy of the verdict on the basis of which his appeal would be heard.

Later in the evening, trial court Judge D W Deshpande handed over a 240-page copy of the judgement to Salman.

“Since the appellant was on bail throughout the trial and since a copy of the judgement of conviction has not yet been furnished to him, it would be proper to protect the appellant for some time in the interest of Justice,” Justice Thipsay observed while granting him interim bail till May 8.

Salman, who is on bail since last 13 years in this case, is not expected to present in the High Court when his appeal comes up for hearing.

Legal sources said his lawyers Harish Salve and Srikant Shivade would argue his bail plea in the absence of the actor as he was not required to be present under the law.

In the appeal, the actor has challenged his conviction saying that the trial court had not considered his plea that he was not driving the car and that his family driver Ashok Singh was behind the wheel.

I'm not sure how long such drama over a simple case of hit n' run would continue and the victims are denied justice. Only lower court drama took more than 12 years and few more courts to go before the convicted criminal actually been punished- may be after 20 more years! No wonder, no sane Indian have much trust on its judiciary.

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aneel

May 7, 2015 at 11:29 pm

Salman Khan should be a man and tell the truth - which is that he was driving and show remorse instead of wasting millions on super lawyers and delaying a closure for the victims and their families. By showing remorse and asking forgiveness will earn him more goodwill. But admitting responsibility would take a Himalayan strength and courage which unfortunately Salman Khan does not seem to have. I admire him as an actor but his cowardliness in admitting his error of judgement which led to the accident betrays his being human

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sonam tajo

May 8, 2015 at 2:11 pm

Salman khan should get bail .... ! !

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Kush

May 7, 2015 at 11:39 pm

Don't care about Salman, but I'm happy to see that at least we have a good Judicial system. And as far as salman is concerned,he deserves to go to jail.